DELTA VARIANT NOW PRESENT IN 85 COUNTRIES, SAYS WHO
The Delta variant, the significantly more transmissible strain of Covid-19, is expected to become a “dominant lineage” if current trends continue, the WHO has warned after it was reported in 85 countries and continues to be detected in more places around the world.
The Covid-19 Weekly Epidemiological Update released on June 22 by the World Health Organisation (WHO) said that globally, the variant Alpha has been reported in 170 countries, territories or areas, Beta in 119 countries, Gamma in 71 countries and Delta in 85 countries. “Delta, now reported in 85 countries, continues to be reported in new countries across all WHO Regions, 11 of which were newly reported in the past two weeks,” the update said.
WHO said the four current 'Variants of Concern' being monitored closely – Alpha, Beta, Gamma and Delta - are widespread and have been detected in all WHO regions. “The Delta variant is significantly more transmissible than Alpha variant, and is expected to become a dominant lineage if current trends continue.” The update said that India reported the highest numbers of new Covid-19 cases, 441,976 over the past week (June 14-20, 2021), a 30 per cent decrease as compared to the previous week. The highest numbers of new deaths were reported from India (16,329 new deaths; 1.2 new deaths per 100,000; a 31 per cent decrease).
The South-east Asia Region reported over 600,000 new cases and over 19,000 new deaths, a 21 per cent and a 26 per cent decrease respectively compared to the previous week. “Decreasing trends in weekly case and death incidence in the Region are predominantly associated with decreases reported in India,” the update said.
WHO noted that since the last detailed update on June 8, new evidence has been published on the phenotypic characteristics of the Delta variant. “A study from Singapore showed that infection with Delta variant was associated with higher odds of oxygen requirement, intensive care unit (ICU) admission, or death,” it said. Further, a study in Japan "estimating the relative instantaneous reproductive number (a measure of transmission at a specific point in time) showed that the Delta variant was associated with greater transmissibility" when compared to the Alpha variant.
“When compared with the variants circulating in Japan before December 2020, the relative instantaneous reproduction number for Alpha was estimated to be at 1.56 and for Delta 1.78. Overall, this study showed Delta was associated with 1.23 times higher transmissibility than Alpha,” the update said.
Joe Biden, US President
“THE DELTA VARIANT IS MORE CONTAGIOUS, IT’S DEADLIER, AND IT’S SPREADING QUICKLY AROUND THE WORLD – LEAVING YOUNG, UNVACCINATED PEOPLE MORE VULNERABLE THAN EVER. PLEASE, GET VACCINATED IF YOU HAVEN’T ALREADY”
Angela Merkel, German Chancellor
“EVEN THOUGH THERE IS REASON TO BE HOPEFUL, THE PANDEMIC ISN'T OVER, IN PARTICULAR IN THE WORLD'S POOR COUNTRIES... BUT IN GERMANY AND EUROPE WE'RE ALSO STILL MOVING ON THIN ICE. WE NEED TO REMAIN VIGILANT”